Can you tell, I’m in an upper mood.  Kind of hard to believe because I got about 5 hours of sleep.  Blame the wip (work in progress).  Had some involved ‘conversations’ with my characters trying to peel off the layers of the onion and getting to the core of their personalities.  Now to see if those conversations lead anywhere.  But before I get rolling, I’m also in the mood to pass on what I think are a couple of pieces of interesting/important information.

The first news bite comes from a local writer friend.  Instead of trying to do justice by what she told me, I’ve copied and pasted and am throwing it out here.  Hopefully blog readers will see the poignant message behind it.  In brief, yes, bad things sometimes happen to good people.  But, and its a big BUT sometimes those people get up, wipe themselves off, and go on with their lives.  So without further ado (whatever that is), here’s the news:

“I’m sure you remember me telling everyone about Airleaf Publishers and the owner being prosecuted after ripping off thousands of dollars from trusting authors - well, the woman who spearheaded the investigation into the scams has come up with a plan to help all the authors (over 400 to date!) and she devised a bookselling plan. A number of us sent her start-up money to hire a good web designer. We get one book on the main page and any other books, and their description, on the author’s personal page with linksto the publisher’s site. We each agreed to buy five books during the next year from the authors listed. As more sign up, the money will be used to advertise the site. The site is up and running. Please have a look at www.BooksOfExcellence.com

Second, I belong to Novelists Inc, an organization open to published writers committed to keeping their heads above water in this sometimes storm-tossed career.  I pay my dues because the focus is on the business aspects of my career.  They have a fab conference, relaxed and intimate and honest which, sob, sob, I didn’t get to attend this year.  Recently the members decided to start their own blog.  Yes, I know, the Net is filled with blogs and of course The Bradford Bunch is the best, but I’m heartedly inviting writers and readers alike to check out what’s becoming available.  The decision was made to stand out from most writer-sponsored blogs by not focusing on self-promoting.  Instead, the concentration will be on everything from how-to pieces to interviews with publishing professionals.  As an example of what’s coming up—

“Starting next week, we will be having industry guests blog on Wednesdays. We’ll start with Liz Scheier, senior editor, Del Rey. The following week we’ll host agent Emmanuelle Alspaugh of Wendy Sherman Associates. And in coming weeks we’ll hear from Suzanne Beecher, owner of Dear Reader; M. J. Rose, New York Time Bestselling author, publicist and owner of Author Buzz; and agent Jennifer Jackson of Donald Maass Literary Agency.”

Oh, where to check this out, you’re asking.  Simple: http://www.ninc.com/blog/

Vonna

www.VonnaHarper.com